Menu from Thursday's Festivities...

I said I'd post the menu with recipes from last night's dinner party.

We ending up eating a little later than planned, but the food turned out perfect, if I do say so myself! I LOVE when that happens when you're trying a new recipe!

I served chips and salsa while everyone was waiting on me to get dinner on the table and then we had...

Beef Fajita Burgers from Rachael Ray's 30-Minute GET REAL Meals cookbook. I am ALWAYS looking for new burger recipes because I think plain, 'ol burgers are dull and boring. These little jewels did not disappoint!

Ingredients

2 lbs ground sirloin (I used 3 lbs and it made about 8 nice sized patties.)

2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

2 TBSP chili powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 to 3 TBSP fresh thyme leaves (courtesy of my office)

Several drops of hot sauce, such as Tabasco

2 TBSP grill seasoning (such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning)

Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) for drizzling

1 pkg of large flour tortillas, warmed at passed at the table

Directions:

Heat grill pan or large skillet over medium-high heat.

In a large bowl combine the meat, Worcestershire, spices, thyme, hot sauce and grill seasoning. Score and divide the meat into 4 to 8 (depending on how much meat you used) and make 4 to 8 large patties, 1 inch thick. Drizzle EVOO on the patties. Cook the patties for 5 or 6 minutes on each side or until desired doneness.

I served our burgers on warm tortillas with grilled onions, fresh lettuce and tomato and shredded cheese.

Summer Veggies (I think I've given y'all this recipe before, but I'm going to give it to you again-just in case)

We get free veggies from our company garden which is a HUGE perk. So my "Summer Veggies" vary from time to time depending on what's in season.

Last night it included: zucchini, yellow squash, red potatoes and a yellow onion all thinly sliced and tossed in 1/2 stick of butter, a few dashes of EVOO, a half of a package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip mix, salt and pepper and sprinkled with fresh Parmesan. They were YUMMY!

Sante Fe Salad (I just call it "Sante Fe" because of the bell peppers.)

Ingredients:

Salad greens, carrot slices, tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell pepper. Toss with salad dressing of your choice.

Sopapilla Cheesecake from www.recipezaar.com

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) cans crescent rolls

2 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar, divided

2 teaspoons vanilla, divided

1/2 cup margarine or butter (not spread or tub product)

ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. With 1 can of crescent rolls, line the bottom of a 9x13 pan sprayed with Pam.

2. Stretch Dough and pinch holes close to form a crust.

3. Blend together, with mixer, softened cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.

4. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over dough, but not too close to the edges.

5. Stretch the second can of crescent rolls over the cream cheese mixture to form a top crust. (I usually only end up using 3/4 of the second can of crescent rolls.)

6. Melt margarine/butter, blending in 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.

7. Pour evenly over the crust and sprinkle generously with Cinnamon. (I've also added shredded chocolate and finely chopped pecans to the topping.)

8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until bubbling and bottom crust is slightly browned.

9. Let cool and refrigerate before cutting into squares. (I always serve mine right out of the oven and it's still gooey and warm. But, it's good cold, too!)

Have a wonderful weekend! I am headed to Wichita Falls to see Miss Whitney! I am so excited! We are going to checkout a local winery, Wichita Falls Vineyards & Winery, and do a little shopping. I love girlfriend weekends!

I Will Survive...

I've been gone the last two days for some job related training. I meant to post before I left, but simply ran out of time.

The sprint triathlon is only 9 days away and I'm already losing sleep over it. Sunday I swam 500 yards and ran almost two miles. Monday morning I went to boot camp, but we got rained out so we just went to our local YMCA and did aerobics. Tuesday after work my friend, Tamara, and I drove to the nearby town where the sprint triathlon is going to be held and went through the entire course minus .9 miles. We would have done the whole thing, but it was started to rain and the lightening was getting a little close so we called 'er quits. Wednesday morning I woke up for boot camp and my ankles and left knee were pretty sore so I took it easy during circuits at boot camp. This morning I got up around 6 a.m. and went and swam laps. My knee feels MUCHO better.

I probably, honestly haven't given my body enough time to train for this triathlon properly, but I've been eating SSSOOO much healthier and have SSSOOO much energy...it's amazing!

It's rained just about every evening since Sunday which is super unusual for this time of year, but such a blessing at the same time.

Ta ta for now!

The hubs and I are having a few friends over for dinner...I'll post the menu with recipes tomorrow!

Giveaways...

This lovely bracelet is being given away at The Glamorous Life of a Housewife.

And a fabulous print from Flapperdoodle at Down and Out Chic is up for grabs.

This one is my personal favorite. It's entitled, "Unlike Eloise, Ramona has mastered the hula hoop."

I came across ANOTHER great giveaway this morning! Check out B is for Brown where she is giving away ALL of this:

So go there (all three there's) and enter!

Blogger is being rude and won't let me rearrange the pictures so they are in order. So they are backwards. My apologies.

New Silpada Catalog & Etsy Love...

Happy Monday, girls! I was so excited last night because I crawled into bed around 10 p.m. and thought, "I am going to feel SO rested when my alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. for bootcamp." WRONG! I laid there for the next two and a half hours with my mind just racing...It rained through the night, though, and we needed it badly.

In other news, as many of you know I sell Silpada jewelry. It's sterling silver and comes with a lifetime guarantee. If you order something and it breaks, Silpada will ship you a replacement. If you order something and just don't like it, you can return it for a full refund or exchange it for something else. I haven't been working my Silpada business as hard lately, because my full-time job is a little more consuming than the one I had when I first started selling Silpada. However, the 2009-2010 catalog just came out and I thought I'd share it with those of you who are interested.

You can view it by going here. Click on the picture of the catalog in the lower right hand corner. If you find anything you can't live without just e-mail me. Otherwise, feel free to pass it along to your friends.

In other news, I got my daily Etsy e-mail and came across this little jewel. It's fierce, right?

Danish Designer Kofod-Easy Chair for $399.

Have a fabulous day, friends!

It's Finally Friday...

And I am so glad...the fitness boot camp saga continued this week. We started back Monday morning. It was unusually cloudy and I was not in the mood to be running my little arse off. I would have much rather been in bed. I worked out hard last week, but Monday still left me gasping for air.

Wednesday we did circuits which were a little easier. I still feel like I should be in better shape by now. This morning we did a lot of running and the usual aerobics like moves with our weights.

I had planned on swimming laps on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, but I didn't have the motivation.

The good news is IT'S FRIDAY! The hubs and I are going grocery shopping after work and then going to fix dinner and watch a movie. It's been awhile since we've done anything just the two of us. Tomorrow my parents' are having a cookout so I guess we'll head south for that.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I made a little better attempt at blogging this week, but still would like to be back to blogging every day.

I have a bloggie question. Do y'all add everyone that you "follow" to your blog roll so it's viewable or clickable from your actual blog page? I almost feel guilty if I don't and like having them just a click away...is that odd? But, it's gotten to the point that I have SO many on my blog roll that I don't have time to add them all.

Enough rambling...ta ta for now!

FlyLady.Net

Girls...I've been missing something in my life...it's FlyLady.Net. Your answer to juggling a full-time job/family and all of your household chores. It has tips on how to clean your house 10 minutes at a time, tips for decluttering your space and advice on keeping you underwelmed instead of overwhelmed. Here's a little info I borrowed from their site, " Your FLYing Lessons will guide you through babysteps to help you set up routines, get rid of your clutter, and put your home and life in order."

The tips are A-MAZING! Around our house we are fairly good at keeping things tidy, but I hate to clean more than anything and my excuse is always that I'm too busy with a full-time job and busy weekends...

So go, check out their site and enjoy your flying lessons! They're quite inspiring! And share with all your girlfriends...I wish someone would have told me about this site a LONG time ago!

"It's a Good Night for Dancing..."

The title of this post comes from a song we heard live Friday night performed by The Josh Abbott Band.

Friday we made a flying trip to Amarillo after work. We met up with some friends for dinner and yummy margaritas at Acalpulco's and then made our way to Midnight Rodeo. Granted, I hadn't been to Midnight since my freshman year of college and thought there was a chance it might be a little on the lame side, but I was WAY wrong and there were a TON of people there. The bands were great although, Aaron Watson, the headliner didn't go on until 11:30 p.m.

Nights like that just make me realize how much I truly love my husband. We had such a great time dancing and catching up with friends. Marty and I just get along so well. I think back to my single days and feel so blessed that at the end of the night, I'm going home with him.

In other news, I introduced two of my single friends and I think it went quite well. I will be anxious to see how it turns out. I don't offer to set people up very often, but these two have a lot in common.

Now for the photos from our evening...

Here's Becky, one of my besties from college, me and Megan before dinner.

Megan and Becky singing La Bamba at Acalpulco's.

Marty, me and Garett

Kristen and Me

3 a.m. Garett and Ryon forego Whatburger for the produce section at Wal-mart. Crazy, boys. An hour later we had a gourmet breakfast.

What a night! The rest of our weekend was pretty low key. We ran a few errands in Amarillo Saturday morning, I took Becky and Marty to Crush Wine Bar & Deli since neither of them had ever been and then we headed home. Becky was my date to a wedding reception that evening and then we called it a night.

Hope your weekend was fabulous!

My First and Second Blog Awards...

I feel so honored to have received my first and second blog awards (in the same week)! Especially, since I've been such a crappy blogger lately. I don't know what my deal has been, but work has been so busy. I don't feel like I'm ever caught up anymore. And our social life is out of control. But, the latter I don't mind. I remember when we didn't have a single friend in this slightly cliquish little town.

Now, on to the awards...

I Love Brownies at Brownies for my Breakfast gave me One Lovely Blog Award. Thank you very much, my dear!

Here are the rules...

1.) Accept the award, post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her link.

2.) Pass the award to five other bloggers that you have newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. (I'm cheating a little because it's almost 5 o'clock and I don't have time to select 5, but I will come back and finish, I promise!)

I'm passing this award along to:

Life of a Busy Wife

Thrifty Decor Chick

And Miss Honeydew at Life After I "Dew" gave me the Honest Scrap Award. I appreciate it very much, sweetheart!

So, now I have to tell you 10 honest things about me that you may or may not already know. And then I tag three new bloggy friends.

1. I am an only child. When I was younger, especially growing up in the country by myself I craved brothers and sisters, but now I cherish the closeness that my parents and I share because it's only always been the three of us. They are truly my best friends and I got to them for everything.

2. I am a total hypocrite! I was the girl who had my whole life planned out. I've told y'all before that I'm completely type A. I've always been very driven and planned on graduating from college, possibly attending grad school or work at PR Firm in OKC and worry about that whole "marriage thing" somewhere down the line...like maybe around the age of 3o. Lucky for me life has a way of changing our plans. I graduated early and was married shortly after my 21st birthday. All these things I said I'd "never do" and I've done most of them!

3. I still don't know what I want to be when I want to grow up. I have a good job now, but there are SEVERAL careers I would like to having including photographer, meterologist/broadcast journalist, travel writer, public relations consultant, communications director, boutique owner, restaurant owner and those are just a few.

4. I plan on competing in my first mini-triathalon August 8 in preparation for my first half marathon in November. The mini triathalon is a 450 yard swim, 12.5 mile bike ride and 3.2 mile run. I'm a long way from being in good enough shape for either, but I'll get there.

5. I am a magazine junky. I get Redbook, InStyle, Better Homes & Gardens and Glamour monthly and shopping magazines like Victoria's Secret, Frontgate, Ballard Designs, Acacia, Athleta, West Elm, White House Black Market, Boston Proper, etc. And I make a point to look through ALL of them.

6. I am in a Book Club and have yet to make it all the way through a single book we've "read". I'll blame it on the fact that neither one were real page turners. Pathetic, though, I know.

7. I am an animal lover. I would adopt every stray that showed up at our house if a) we had a place for them all and b) Marty would let me.

8. Tyke is like our child. I know I treat him that way more so than Marty, but while we were in Fredericksburg his stay and grooming bill at the pet resort was almost as much as what it cost me to stay while we were on our girls' trip. CrAzY! He is spoiled rotten, but he's brought me so much companionship. He does not have a ton of clothes, though. He's WAY too hot natured for that.

9. As strange as it is for me to admit...I am not laid back really at all. I like to be on the go, have a plan and follow that plan. Marty has brought this to my attention.

10. I LOVE the way I was raised. I admire my parents so much for their strong work ethic and the things they sacrificed to provide for me. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for cowboys. Especially, my daddy. He manages a large ranch and works full-time, 7 days a week. I respect the fact that Marty would love to follow in his footsteps someday, but ranching is a TOUGH way to make a living.

Now I tag:

Mrs. Southern Belle

Sweet Simplicity

Chapters

Thanks again, girls! Maybe I just needed a couple of awards to "kick me in the butt" so to speak and get me motivated about blogging again.

We are off to Amarillo. We are meeting 10 of our closest friends for dinner and drinks at this little place called Acalpulco's. And then we are headed to see The Josh Abbott Band and Aaron Watson. I love dinner and dancing on a Friday night. Y'all have a great weekend!

Fredericksburg, TX and Chick Dip 2009 Pictures

If you remember this post, I didn't have any of the pictures from our girls trip because my camera was at my parents' house.

So, let me catch you up...

The pool at our bed and breakfast that I wish we could have lounged a little longer by.

Me in front of Runnymede Country Inn in Fredericksburg before dinner.

My beautiful Mom and I after dinner. I love this picture!

This was in the Garden of Beaden. They had one of those little wire gates to close off the back part of the shop and I, of course assumed it was for a little dog. Nope! They had a pet rooster! Crazy, right?! I think his name was Colonel.

Chick Dippers 2009. I think there were 7 mother/daughter duos and then of course little Eli.

Mika and Eli. I just want to eat him up!

Tomorrow I must post about my first two, amazing blog awards that I just recently received. Thank you both!

Golf, anyone?

Golf...the game so many love to hate. In my small high school, I chose to run track during golf season so other than putt-putt, my golf experience is limited to say the least.

However, the hubs has two very expensive hobbies: hunting and roping. He is just getting into the latter...

Granted, I do count shopping as one of my major hobbies, but I am ALWAYS looking to try something new so I decided last spring that I wanted to take golf lessons. It never worked out and living in our small town, golf lessons are hard to come by.

As fate would have it, Megs, our office intern is working on her golf game and Ben, a fellow OSU alum is in town staying with Justin for a few weeks and he is a golf PRO.

So last week after work one afternoon we graced the golf course with our presence. Luckily, it wasn't crowded at all. That could have something to do with the fact that it was 106 degrees at 6 p.m., but the heat didn't stop us.

The golf course in C-town is only 9 holes. I think we played 7 holes...it took a while with four people. I didn't have a great game, but everyone said I was a natural and my swing felt great! Needless to say, I'm hooked!

Here's Megan getting some instruction from Ben.

Megs and I looking lovely on the course...yuck.

Great shot of Megs.

This shot of the boys is a little dark, but if you look closely...only in C-town do people play golf in a cowboy hat, long sleeved button up shirt, jeans and boat shoes. *LOL* Try to ignore the moron's shadow taking the picture!

"It Got a Little Bit Western Last Night..."

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.

I stole the title of this post from some friend's of ours new clothing line, Texas Tea. It describes our weekend to a "T". *LOL*

We began our festivities Wednesday evening in celebration of John's birthday. He had quite a few friends in from California, Dallas and Florida.

Here's a shot of me and Jylian before walking in. (I know this dress has shown up in a lot of my posts lately...It's been hanging in my closet for the past year and after I put it on for the first time in awhile a few weeks ago it's been my "go to party dress".)

That's the only picture of the night as the rest was spent visiting and eating. It was a great party and we closed 'er down around 2:30 a.m. Yes, we both had to work the next day which made us both VERY sluggish on Thursday.

That didn't stop us, though. We had a backyard party to attend at the Culver's Thursday night. Both of their boys were in (the same ones that started Texas Tea). They had a couple of mini concerts one by Doug Moreland and the other by Brett & Cruise Duke. There were SO many people there and we got to catch up with a lot of people we hadn't seen in awhile.

Here's a picture of the guys before going in.

I immediately ran into this lovely lady...we chatted most of the night. To the point that someone came up and was like, "Y'all know there's a party going on here, right?"

Friday I didn't have to work which was SO nice! It was supposed to be my last morning of Boot Camp before our two week break, but after going to bed at 3 a.m. there was NO way I was waking up at 5:30 a.m. to go workout. So, my dear, darling friends came and woke me up at 7 a.m. after they finished working out. I guess they didn't want me to feel left out...*lol*

Marty was in the rodeo that evening, but I didn't get to watch his event because we didn't find out what time he went on until the last minute. We'd been invited to a cookout that night, but didn't get to go because of his involvement in the rodeo. We did make an appearance at the dance. It was PACKED and it was HOT! Jason Boland and the Stragglers put on a great show. I danced a lot. Not every single song like back in the day, but a lot!

Marty, Me, Tristan and Aubrey walking into the dance Friday night.

Me & Megs

Me & Megs' sister, Kathleen.

I got about four hours of sleep Friday night and got up in time to make it to the parade and parade party. Aubrey and I took Brendan and Tyke.

Here we are before leaving my house.

And sporting our "shades".

Brendan enjoying a sucker from the parade.

Megs & I at the parade party.

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of Tyke in his cute new harness with matching collar and leash from Dogologie in Fredericksburg, but he was looking pretty cute! He got a ton of compliments. It was HOT, though. We made it up to the square and decided it was too hot to stay long. By the time we got to Aubrey's vehicle Brendan and Tyke were pooped. Brendan was asleep before we could even get in the car and Tyke crawled up as close to the air conditioning as he could and didn't move a muscle.

I was supposed to make a trip to see my parents', but they called and said my hometown's festivites were a little lack luster so mom came up here and we walked around the courthouse lawn and found a few things we couldn't live without. We went to the ranch rodeo afterwards and then cooked hamburgers and some fresh veggies from the garden before she went home.

I snapped this shot while we were at the ranch rodeo. This is one of the things I LOVE about Texas. Good looking cowboys standing around in cowboy hats, starched shirts and Wranglers.

We hadn't planned on making a second appearance at the rodeo dance Saturday night, but after the fun we had Friday night we decided it was a must.

Here's Marty and I before we left the house.

Lauren, me and Megs at the dance.

I was suprised at the sheer numbers of people that came home for the 4th. I got to see so many people I knew and catch up with them.

By the time Sunday rolled around I was so glad that we had absolutely NOTHING planned and I was able to take a LONG nap in the afternoon.

I am so glad 4th of July only comes once a year. It is a fabulous holiday, but I'm not sure I could survive celebrating like that very often!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I know I am a little early, but we just found out that our office will be closed tomorrow in celebration of the holiday so I wanted to blog before the weekend.

Wednesday was my first day back at fitness bootcamp since my week long girls' trip. It. Was. Rough. to say the least. I am a very competitive and like to be at the "front" of whatever I am doing...I was at the back, sucking wind and looking pathetic. Missing a week of workout is tough. I had every intention of working out while I was gone, but a) we didn't end up having a DVD player in our condo and b) it was UNBELIEVEABLY hot outside. After baking in the sun while floating the river all day working out was the LAST thing on my mind.

So, I took one for the team and now tomorrow morning when I should be sleeping in on my day off I will be running timed 400m. Pray for me! *lol*

I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th of July! And I wanted to give a BIG shout out to all the soldiers and military serving here and over seas. We love you, we miss you and are praying for your safe return home. Thank you for all you do for us and our country we can never repay you for your sacrifice!

Fredericksburg, TX and Chick Dip 2009

Well...our girls' trip was fabulous!

Mom and I left Sunday morning and arrived in Fredericksburg just in time for dinner. We dropped Tyke off at the Paws and Claws Pet Resort. They took very good care of my "fur baby" by taking him on daily walks and indulging him in his individual play times. Ridiculous, I know!

We then checked into our bed and breakfast, Runnymede Country Inn, which is owned by a couple of girls I know. It was adorable and the breakfast was delicious! I would have given anything to spend some time lounging by the pool...We will definitely be returning.

We went next door to House. Wine. and had a glass of the most amazing wine EVER while we were waiting on a table at Auslander Biergarten and Restaurant. The food was good. We shared a German Snack-"Choice of grilled sausage served with sauerkraut, Swiss and cheddar cheese and pumpernickel bread." I ordered Texaschnitzel-"A local twist on an Old World favorite! Schnitzel covered with ranchero sauce, Monterey Jack, sour cream and guacamole." Although, I had to ask what schnitzel was...my dad has always taught me to try new things when it comes to food and when in German restaurant you order German food.

Monday was a FULL day of shopping! Oh the cute, whimsy shops in Fredericksburg! It reminded me very much of the shops in Durango, CO where we vacation. I got a great necklace custom made at the Garden of Beaden (in OSU colors, of course). I will have to post a picture later because ALL of my pictures are on my camera which I left at my parents' house.

I left all my great floppy hats that would have been PERFECT for floating the river at home so I had to purchase a new one. I chose a cute little black number from this awesome little boutique, Root. I would have LOVED to spend much more $$$ in there, but I was trying to behave!

Here's a picture from the website of the hat I purchased.

Photo courtesy of Root website

The girls got into town around 4 p.m. and we grabbed some ice cream and headed to New Braunfels. There were three vehicles in our caravan and we were the last one the ENTIRE time. I swear following someone through 5 o' clock San Antonio traffic was an experience I will not be enjoying anytime soon. It didn't help that our 'fearless leader' was driving at record speed.

Anywho...we made it to New Braunfels and got unloaded and settled in to our lovely condos on the river.

We got around the following morning and were on the river by 9:30 a.m. It was SO nice and relaxing. It took two hours to float the Comal. They said it was low, but being my first time on the "Chick Dip", I couldn't tell. We went back to our condo after the first time down and had lunch and refueled and went again. I was NOT a fan of the mid-day float. It was record breaking temperatures, well over 100 degrees and I am 90 percent sure I got a contact burn from my tube. The valiant ones in our group made the third float of the day and said it was much cooler.

I got a great picture of all 15 of us that first morning, but again...it's on my camera!

On Wednesday I slept until 10 a.m., went down and had breakfast and went back to bed until noon. Worthless, I know, but I was on vacation! Mom and I went and layed by the pool after lunch, but it was SO hot we didn't last long...Lyndi and Lezli got back from the second float trip of the day and we made our way over to Schlitterbahn. I have to say, I wasn't that impressed. I thought it'd be bigger, better...and I didn't realize there were multiple parks. After visiting their website, though, I realize that we totally got screwed. We ended up at Blastenhoff when we were intending to go to Schlitterbahn West. Who knew!? I am thoroughly disappointed!

Mom and I woke up EARLY Thursday morning to make the LONG drive back to the panhandle. We picked up Tyke in Fredericksburg and did some last minute shopping. My little Tyke was MORE than excited to see me...I have the scratches to prove it. I also wonder what they're thinking when you leave them somewhere like that.

We stopped at BLUE taco in Abilene on the way home for lunch. It was yummy! Can you tell our trips tend to be focused around our meals?

I made it home around 9:30 p.m. Thursday evening. I was pooped and glad to see my hubby!

Until tomorrow...I promise to be better at blogging. I've just been busy!